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PvXwiki:Guides
On PvXwiki, Guides are governed by a separate policy. This policy dictates the content of such articles in this Wiki. Content Guides, unlike builds, are designed to display information for a more general subject. While a build hovers around the use of a specialized skillset, a guide is much more general, and skill choices are less restricted. They may cover what existing builds already cover, but expands more on usage of a particular type of build. Why Guides? The purpose of a guide is to give in-depth detail on how a general type of build is to be run. That being said, having guides that cover a larger ground on how many builds are used helps to reduce clutter on newer articles by providing a reference point for builds of the same type. This allows many of the existing guides to have shortened sections detailing how the build functions and lets the builds focus more on individual skill usage rather than playing styles. Having guides also allows for better presentation of specific skills instead of consisting of a staple skillset with a template. Restrictions of Guides While builds cover single character usage, guides often cover how a specific task in the game should be accomplished. Extremely general guides should be avoided, as should highly specialized guides (for example, one that gives a specific skillset). Particularly, a guide should not use the PvXcode "Attribute and Skills" box, but rather a list of skill/skill icons with captions that explain more on why a certain skill choice benefits the objective of the guide. Good versus Poor Skills Another factor that separates guides from builds is the skill choice pool. A build may focus on weeding out specific skills to the point that only around 8 skills remain fit for the given bar. A guide, however, should accomodate many (if not every) skill variant that is used to accomplish the guide's objective. Instead of having the idea of selecting the best skill for the job, a guide should cover all variants as if they are equal. Core Skills Only skills that are absolutely needed for the specific type of build to function should be allocated as a "core skill". Because of that trait of guides, not all guides may consist of this section. That, however, does not mean a guide is unable to meet its purpose. Stubs When a guide is written, it is placed into the "stub" category. Such a guide will remain in this category without becoming an "official" guide until a consensus is reached on the talk page of a guide in favor of it. Categorization of Guides Because of the inherent differences between guides and builds, a guide is categorized differently than a build article would be. Guides are divided up into certain categories based on what subject matter they cover as well as a broad, overall topic. A specific category would be "Category:GvG Guides" but the specific category is always "Category:Build Guides". The idea behind this is to make the article available under a portal - linked category as well as a general category. This also alleviates the difficulty of organizing the guides Formatting Specific details to how a guide is formatted can be found here.